Title: To Keep a Butterfly from Flying
Author: Cynthia Snyder
Publisher: Book Venture Publishing
ISBN: 978-1641666732
Pages: 160
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Reviewed by: Lisa Brown-Gilbert
Pacific Book Review
Encompassing an intimately posed narrative, Cynthia Snyder’s To Keep a Butterfly from Flying, divulges to readers, insight to the innermost mentation of a young woman on a journey to her true self.
As the youngest of five siblings, Cynthia finds herself at odds within her own life. While her older siblings seem to be making the most of their lives out in the world, she struggles with feelings of suffocation stemming from being the youngest, coupled with the stress of her involvement in an unstable romantic relationship. Essentially, she feels trapped by her feelings, both for her family and a guy who not only does not reciprocate her affection, but who also leads her to questioning the terms of his sexuality.
Resultantly, struck with the realization that she needs to escape in order to concentrate on herself and build her own life, she takes on a long term job on a cruise ship. Consequently, what follows is an eyewitness view of a life in transformation as she comes into herself via experiencing “ship life”. As a matter of fact, life on the ship as a hairdresser allows Cynthia to travel to beautiful locales, and meet a variety of culturally diverse people, which helps to open her eyes to different facets of life.
Written in diary format, Cynthia documents her experiences through her introspections almost daily, as she learns about life and herself by living it through her experiences on the ship. The story, fraught with epiphanic moments, allows the reader to experience first-hand her instances of growing maturity. While she attempts to forge relationships, as well as wrestling with the isolation of working out at sea, Cynthia learns important life lessons such as gratitude, appreciation for her family, and the fickleness of fleeting relationships. Her life on the ship, sends her through fluxes of emotion which range from sadness, loneliness, frustration, happiness, embarrassment, friendship and elation. Ultimately, her experiences culminate into an unforgettable learning venture of which important lessons pertaining to life, family and especially about herself prevail, leading her to become a stronger, more self-assured woman.
Author, Cynthia Snyder puts forth a tangibly earnest effort within this book, while you get a feel for the range of emotions and impactful experiences that her central character Cynthia goes through you also get a reasonably realistic insider’s view of what life working on a cruise ship can be like for the employees, of which surprisingly enough, was nothing like the seemingly easy going “Love Boat” episodes.
I enjoyed reading To Keep a Butterfly from Flying, as aside from minor editing issues the content was very original, honest and entertaining. This is a heartwarming, captivating and endearing story of friendship, relationships, family, love, faith and hope. I would recommend this novel to readers that enjoy Woman’s Literature.
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